New York, NY, July 2, 2014 – Merkle, a leading technology-enabled, data-driven customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm and the nation’s largest privately-held agency, announced that it has acquired RKG, a leading search and digital marketing agency based in Charlottesville, VA.

The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (www.jegi.com) of New York, NY, the leading independent investment bank for the global media, information, marketing, and technology sectors, represented RKG in this transaction and acted as its exclusive financial advisor.

This is Merkle’s second digital agency acquisition in 2014, demonstrating the company’s commitment to an aggressive growth strategy in scaling its own digital agency business, whose 2013 net revenue exceeded 2012 by greater than 43%. In the 2014 AdAge Agency Report, Advertising Age named Merkle|IMPAQT the 10th largest and fastest-growing search agency in the U.S. The report also listed RKG as one of the fastest-growing independent search agencies for the second consecutive year. Additionally, RKG works with more Internet Retailer Top 500® clients than any other search agency. The integration of RKG brings Merkle’s employee base to more than 2,400, with the addition of nearly 220 professionals to the company’s Digital Agency Group. The group now consists of more than 650 experts in digital strategy, creative, user experience, web/mobile development, media, search, email and social. The combination of Merkle and RKG has created a truly scaled media agency, with estimated 2014 media billings in excess of $500 million.

“The acquisition of RKG supports Merkle’s dedication to helping world-class brands attain the Platform Marketer™ competencies they need to capitalize on the massive opportunity of addressability at scale, which has been brought about by the digital audience platforms,” said Craig Dempster, Executive Vice President and Digital Agency Group Leader, Merkle. “RKG represents the best of breed in search, display, social and other digital media marketing solutions, and we are delighted to have them join the Merkle family.”

RKG CEO, George Gallate, commented on the acquisition, “As a progressive performance-based team whose primary focus is fostering growth for our clients, we were honored to be approached by another high-growth, independent agency. Merkle is a proven leader in creating customer experiences that drive outstanding marketing performance in addressable media, and we’re proud to join its ranks. Our two companies also share a similar energy and passion for success, which are the makings of a perfect cultural fit.”

About RKG
Founded in 2003, RKG is a search and digital marketing agency that combines superior marketing talent with world-class digital media capabilities to create the industry’s most effective data-driven digital marketing solutions. RKG drives business to clients by maximizing a full range of opportunities, including paid search, SEO, product listing ads, social media, display advertising and comparison shopping engine management services. A privately held company, RKG is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA with offices in Bend, OR and Boston, MA. For more information, visit: www.rimmkaufman.com.

About Merkle
Merkle, a technology-enabled, data-driven customer relationship marketing (CRM) firm, is the nation’s largest privately-held agency. For more than 25 years, Fortune 1000 companies and leading nonprofit organizations have partnered with Merkle to maximize the value of their customer portfolios. By combining a complete range of marketing, technical, analytical and creative disciplines, Merkle works with clients to design, execute and evaluate connected CRM programs. With more than 2,100 employees, the privately held corporation is headquartered in Columbia, Maryland with additional offices in Boston; Chicago; Denver; Hagerstown; Little Rock; London; Minneapolis; Montvale, NJ; Nanjing; New York; Philadelphia; Pittsburgh; San Francisco; and Shanghai. For more information, visit www.merkleinc.com.

About The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.
The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc. (JEGI) of New York has been the leading independent investment bank for the global media, information, marketing and technology sectors for nearly 27 years. The firm has completed over 500 high‐profile M&A transactions, servicing global corporations; middle-market and emerging companies; entrepreneurial owners; and private equity and venture capital firms. For more information, visit www.jegi.com.

“On the number + on time + a buyer that truly represented management’s first choice. That is an exceedingly rare trifecta as far as I am concerned. JEGI’s ability to keep advancing the story and optimizing its delivery, and to steer wisely where necessary, made for a job very well done.”– Mark Giles, Chairman, RKG